


Make you Believe

by spreadyourwingsandfly



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Heartache, Mentions of Death, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 00:57:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15473976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spreadyourwingsandfly/pseuds/spreadyourwingsandfly
Summary: Pure AU!Erik fluff.He plays it cool and acts like he’s tough. Yeah, he is. He had to be, after everything that happened with his dad and bouncing around from foster home to foster home until they finally contacted some relatives that wanted to take him in.But Erik is still twenty-one and he’s only twenty-one. He fought tooth and nail to get into MIT after growing up in less than favorable conditions in his foster homes, bouncing around from one home to the next until his eighteenth birthday.He has to have that cool and cold exterior because that’s what keeps him from looking like a loser, keeps him from getting played. It works in all areas. He can smooth talk girls, charm teachers, and he’s even been known to get out of detention here and there in high school. He knows the right phrases to use and when, the correct vernacular to use and with whom. He has broken more hearts than eggs he’s cracked at his job at the bakery, and he has the audacity- or, maybe, the confidence- to laugh about it with his roommate and his homies in his dorm mi suppig a bear and remembering the look on the girl’s face when he tells it like it is, when he shows her that he doesn’t love anybody in anyway.Until, he does.





	Make you Believe

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNING- HEARTBREAK, MINOR CHARACTER DEATH

Inspired by the song of the same name by Little Mix. AU where Erik never went to Wakanda to try to overthrow T’Challa form the throne.

 

He plays it cool and acts like he’s tough. Yeah, he is. He had to be, after everything that happened with his dad and bouncing around from foster home to foster home until they finally contacted some relatives that wanted to take him in.  
But Erik is still twenty-one and he’s only twenty-one. He fought tooth and nail to get into MIT after growing up in less than favorable conditions in his foster homes, bouncing around from one home to the next until his eighteenth birthday.  
He has to have that cool and cold exterior because that’s what keeps him from looking like a loser, keeps him from getting played. It works in all areas. He can smooth talk girls, charm teachers, and he’s even been known to get out of detention here and there in high school. He knows the right phrases to use and when, the correct vernacular to use and with whom. He has broken more hearts than eggs he’s cracked at his job at the bakery, and he has the audacity- or, maybe, the confidence- to laugh about it with his roommate and his homies in his dorm mi suppig a bear and remembering the look on the girl’s face when he tells it like it is, when he shows her that he doesn’t love anybody in anyway.  
Until, he does.  
She’s bad and she’s fine, and she knows it. Her name is Erika and she is the smartest girl in his class, might even be at the top of the class. That puts her only one spot above him.  
She’s witty, too. She’ll flip her braids over her shoulder and reply with something so sharp that even he has to cut his hand on his chest and wonder, ‘’What just happened?’’  
She’s good for him, and she fits him perfectly. He starts believing in love the way that he believed his baba would take him to see the sunsets in Wakanda one day- he knows that it may be naive, but it’s a bit of hope for him to grasp on to to keep him from dipping down into despair that threatens to pull him down into its dark, deep waters.  
So it’s no surprise that when she pulls an Erik on him- leaves him high and dry with a smirk on her face and her new plaything arm wrapped around her waist- it leaves him wondering why he was so gullible to fall for her charm in the first place. If this is what he’s been puting girls through, then it’s even more messed up than he thought.  
‘’Relationships ain’t with it, man,’’ he tells his cousin T’Challa the next afternoon, sitting in the diner just off of campus.’’  
‘’I do not think that this is true, Erik. She just proved that she is not the one for you,’’ T’Challa offers, ever the optimistic.  
‘’You know, man, that optimist crap is getting’ real annoying, real fast,’’ Erik cuts his eye at him.  
‘’Please. I am your favorite cousin,’’ T’Challa jests.  
‘’Nah, T. Shuri is my favorite cousin.’’  
‘’She is only four!’’  
‘’What’s your point, man?’’  
The two have never had a good relationship. Not until college started, when Erik finally felt in place and T’Challa didn’t.   
When Erik’s dad died, his uncle and aunt took him in. He never really felt a home in Wakanda, despite his family’s best efforts. T’Challa was always the popular one, always the smart one and the ladies man. As hard as he tried, it seemed like no one could accept Erik.  
Fast forward to being in college at MIT six years later. Erik’s found his place, the place where he feel most at home and less like an outsider.   
T’Challa on the other hand is struggling to fit in at his school, only an hour away. It’s the first time that T’Challa isn’t the one that everyone fawns all over, and Erik is eating that stuff up. It’s not nice, but then again, neither is he.  
Until he meets up with his cousin one day to get some books from him and sees just how upset he is.  
Erik is a lot of things, but he takes care of his family. So that brings these bi-weekly meetings on a Saturday, where Erik woll meet up with T’Challa or T’Challa will meet up with Erik and they’ll hand out and good off.  
Well, as much as T’Challa can do so.   
But it’s also why he feels comfortable telling Erik that he’s heartbroken and that mess hurts and he better not tell nobody ever because Erik doesn’t get his heart broken, he breaks hearts.  
‘’Look. You are my cousin, so I am going to be honest with you. This is how you treat women, Erik. So, if you want to feel better… you’re gonna have to try again’’  
‘’Is that what you told yourself when Nakia left your behind high and dry?’’  
T’Challa’s mouth forms a thin line, and even Erik knows that was a low blow.  
‘’N’Jadaka.’’  
‘’I know, man. Sorry,’’ he looks out the window, ‘’It was wrong. It’s just, falling in love? I’m done. Ain’t happening again.’’  
Then he meets you. He meets you and you’re smart and witty and funny and sarcastic and beautiful in every way.  
But he’s done falling in love and he tells you this after the third month, the fifteenth date, the eighth kiss, not having the heart to do to you the heartbreak that was done to him.  
So he can’t tell if you’ve got him falling for you but he’s gonna nip it in the bud right now.  
‘’Why are you breaking up with me,’’ you question, watching him move about his tiny apartment, doing chores.  
Distracting himself, really.  
‘’Because this ain’t gonna work out. I’m busy with work and school and so are you.’’  
‘’That’s some crap and you know it,’’ you roll your eyes, crossing your arms over your chest, ‘’So what’s the real reason?’’  
‘’Yo, who you talking to like that?’’  
‘’You, Erik! You now I like you, know I care about you. The way you’ve been acting with me shows me that you do, too. If this was really about not having enough time, or whatever crap you wanna make me think it’s about, we would’ve been over a month ago. You’re not using me, because the same thing applies. So what’s the real reason.’’  
He slams a cabinet shut, walkin over to you with a passion that you can’t explain blazing behind his dark brown eyes.  
‘’Fine, since you wanna be all nosy. I’m done with this, I don’t wanna keep doing this. Because I’m gonna fall for you and I don’t play that mess anymore. That’s how…’’  
He trails off then, but you know what he means. Because he’s told you about Erika, and you want nothing more than to fix him to touch the places where he is hurting and to seal those places with your love and affection.  
But he won’t let you.  
Because of her.  
‘’I’m not her, Erik. I wouldn’t hurt you like she did.’’  
‘’You Don’t think I used those same lines on girls,’’ he scoffs, ‘’It’s cheap and used a million times.’’  
‘’Erik, I could be so good to you. I could be, but you won’t let me. I’m not her. You would;t have to regret me. In fact, I’d be the last thing that you’d ever regret,’’ you shake your head, looking up that mean you’re really come to know these last few months, ‘’I know she broke your heart, and I know you’ve lost your faith in love. But… I could make you believe in it again.’’  
You stand then, grabbing your things and gliding past him and towards the door.  
‘’If you want to give this another shot, I’d love to, Erik. I could really love you. Only if you want that though. Call me if you figure this out, but don’t take too long. I can’t wait forever.’’  
With that,you leave his apartment, closing the door behind you.  
And you don’t cry until you’re in your own dorm room, away from him and the noise of the city.  
Two weeks of work, school, and parties go by and not a word from Erik. You’re Starting to wonder if you made the right choice, if you were maybe too hard on him.  
Then you remember that you have to value yourself and your time, too, and if he doesn’t like it, well…  
There’s plenty of fish in the sea, right?  
Even if he’s the one that your heart currently wants.  
So it’s a welcomed surprise two days later when you get a text from him, asking him to meet up with you.  
It’s even more of a surprise six months late when he tells you that he loves you.  
It’s absolutely, astonishing shocking six years later when you’re standing in front of a mirror, dressed in white lace on what’s supposed to be the happiest day of your life.  
You receive a text form the man that you love, the man that has your heart and always will, ‘’Thank you for making me believe again.’’  
And with a fond smile, you close it out ready to take the next step into your new life.  
Because maybe fairytales don’t come true, and maybe happy endings are only in those fairytales. But if Erik Stevens, also known as N’Jadaka can believe in love again, well, then…  
Maybe anything is possible.

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER- I OWN NO MARVEL CHARACTERS OR THEIR FICTIONAL WORLDS


End file.
